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THE COMMISSION HOUSE 
Blank may next ask the broker to tell him which securities 
he should buy. Such questions place the broker ina dglicate 
position. He may reply that he will take no “discretionary 
orders,” meaning that he does not care to assume the responsi- 
bility of having the customer’s orders left to his discretion. 
The broker’s unwillingness to 
“handle his customer’s ac- 
count” is natural enough, for 
the broker is, after all, merely 
the customer’s agent, and it 
is consequently the broker’s 
business to take orders, not 
to give them. Furthermore, 
he cannot guarantee to have 
a more accurate idea of se- 
curity values than the cus- 
tomer himself. But, as a 
compromise, he will usually 
express his opinion upon the 
various securities which the customer may name, or will him- 
self indicate securities which in his opinion deserve special 
consideration. 
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Giving a Buying Order.—During the ensuing week Blank 
decides to purchase 100 shares of the Southern Pacific R. R. 
Co. He might, of course, simply write or telegraph or tele- 
phone his order to the brokerage office. But in order to 
visualize the course of his order more concretely, let us suppose 
that he goes to the office of Jenkins & Co. a few days after 
opening his account with the firm and, having watched the 
board for a while, fills out an order blank (Figure 51) for the 
100 shares of Southern Pacific. This order blank instructs 
Jenkins & Co. to purchase the stock, as the customary phrase 
goes, for his “account and risk.” Blank may, of course, put 
a time limit upon this order, or mark it “G.T.C.” (good till 
countermanded) : he may likewise make a limited order of it by